Why do I find crawling so relaxing?

[Maxx_Action]

I have been into RC off and on since I was a kid, but never as much as the last three years.

Christmas 2017 I got my son a Stampede vxl for Christmas and that was the beginning of a hobby addiction that rivals anything I've ever done.

At one time, we had 25 rigs including 2 completely upgraded 4x4 sct race trucks, and a 1/8th Tekno Race Truggy. My son and I raced for two seasons at the local track.

We had mostly bashers, including an Xmaxx, E-REvo 2.0, An Arrma Nero Big Rock, and Cen Colossus (that's my favorite basher) and I gotta admit, crashing, flipping, doing wheelies at 50MPH makes me giggle like a two year old. I got my first crawler in February, and am now up to 4, and I gotta say none of my RC experience has been as relaxing and fun as Crawling.

I think part of it is the slow pace, and not having to worry about what parts I need to replace before I run them again, though the Xmaxx has never broke anything that made it undriveable. Or it could be that Crawling doesn't seem to draw a crowd like the bashers do, so I don't have to worry about someone's four year old running into the path of a 30 pound truck doing 55 mph.

Something about crawling just calms my mind, almost therapeutical. I have tried to put my finger on it, but I cannot figure out why.

Anyone else got an idea?

[Topher Builds]

Tiny truck therapy is real.

The trail is my church on Sundays.

[meatmonkey]

Yup, toy trucking is my out. Something about conquering mother nature at little more than a snail's pace with as much finesse as possible just really does it for me. Almost zen like. Focusing on the line, the tires slip angle, and mastering throttle control is my therapy. Requires just enough concentration to keep my mind off of the woes of daily life. Toy truckin for life over here.

[CODYBOY]

For me, the therapy I get is from the building! At 72 I need the challenge of the R&D and figuring out how to make parts and fitting them. I think it helps keep my mind young. I love the fabricating, painting and designing!
I don't have my sea legs anymore so uneven ground and climbing are getting harder every year.
I'll leave all the climbing to you young bucks!!
Ernie

[smog]

It’s relaxing. Complete and total escape for me. I find the pace of crawling makes it possible to vividly see the tiny suspension working in real time. Love that. I also enjoy the process toward finesse of a challenging line. It’s rewarding. I also really enjoy trail building. I am continually developing an urban backyard course and a sprawling lake country trail. I can get completely immersed in the woods and 7 hours will go by in the snap of the fingers. My mind can become so singularly focussed. Works better for me than meditation, though a hell of a lot more tiring.

I dunno, I am hooked

[23drumerboy]

Originally Posted by meatmonkey

.....something about...
Focusing on the line, the tires slip angle, and mastering throttle control is my therapy..... Requires just enough concentration to keep my mind off of the woes of daily life. Toy truckin for life over here.

I feel wayyyy TOO MUCH of, THIS!!!^^^^^^^^↑^^↑↑↑↑↑^^^^^^^^^↑↑↑^^↑
Having finally gotten my daughter back into my life due to freak circumstances on mom's part....and daily/covid/work/daily/life/daily/'murika/insert daily stresses here..

Crawling is just the riiiiight mix of nature and easy-pace/low-throttle "hiking", with the added entertainment, for some folks, maybe, that will never be able to "micro-engineer" their own fancy 4x4 89toyota rock truggy on the 1:1 scale, so-to-speak??

Also, as a wise man once told me "...EVERY.SINGLE.CHANCE. you get ...(off work, no obligations, etc) ... Get as FFFARRRRR AWAY from concrete and asphalt as you can!..". This rings true, even IF your crawler is brought along on a family outing to walk around a familiar path, i.e; paved trail around huge lake, etc. Crawling can STILL be relaxing simply BECAUSE of being out in nature!

If you're like me, slaving away in the american slavery system called "work" can be psychologically damaging at certain points in your career. And even if you're in absolute love and peace in your home-life-relation-shipTs.... simply being un bothered, in nature, with YOUR BAD-AS- ..bobby, machine, which YOU engineered to work perfectly FOR YOUR expectations, with god-only-knows-um-pteen hours of planning, experimenting, parts-hunting, and manual "labor" (...point is, the build....YOU focus on, YOU control, and ONLY YOU attempt to meet, well, ONLY YOUR expectations/needs/even YOUR own scale appeal!!...we get to take our only time to ourselves "playing with toy turks" which we built PERFECTLY to each our own needs/wants...we FOCUSED on something other than work, satisfying others, and meet OTHER people's "quota", i guess....then we take the most "technical" ((1/10th-technical )) place we find in the GREAT outdoors...and then FOCUS, again, on beating OUR OWN goals, paving our OWN trails, and get to spend our few moments away from the daily grind...with intent, out in nature, and for, if only a few moments, maybe for a pack, or three....we get to have our own "church for the american-worker's-soul" with the pride that comes with every mastered new line, and every new mod we find effective...its a necessary thing to be connected....in a soul-satisfying way, with things we enjoy doing, as opposed to the things, we really have no choice but to do, or to survive.

Im glad its not just me that finds (even squealing 9t pinion on trx4 in 1st gear...) Relaxing!

Read-Up! Mod-On! Crawl EXCESSIVELY!

[Doom!]

I am so there! I have only been into surface rc's for a little over a year, spent 10+ years flying rc aircraft. Not too long ago I picked up an Axial SCX24, then another. I bought the first one to play around the house with when the weather was nasty. Well I started working on it, so I picked up another so I would have something to play with.

A month or so ago I picked up my first real crawler, and have been loving the slower pace, less fear of damage. And It's more enjoyable to work on than my bashers. I also like that your mind can be tracking the best line to tackle without the stress of having to make a spit second decision.

Out of all my rc's , this is the first one my wife was willing to give a try. If I can get her hooked, it can only help the hobby budget right?

[rkj__]

I like crawling. I have found though, that I have limited interest in repeating the same trail / obstacles over and over. This pushes me to keep exploring the areas around me. I like exploring, whether it be on foot, bike, or SxS.

[CruisinE2W]

Similar experience to Doom's ^

Picked up an SCX24 beginning of this year. Only took about a month until an SCX10 ii joined the gang, upgrades were acquired and a mysterious pile of rocks just appeared in my back yard...:shrug:

Been a 1:1 enthusiast my whole life so this has been a relaxing, low-consequence alternative that I'm having an absolute blast with (and the wife enjoys too!)

[soze]

Crawling is definitely my weekly mental health break. I can just zone out on lines, suspension, scenery, and sometimes get a good hike out of it too.

[natsb]

If I want edge of my seat excitement, I get out one of the buggies. If I want to chill, which is most of the time, I get out the crawler. Crawling also seems to be more of an intelectual stimulus. I am still not great, but I am a lot better at getting my car out of some pretty sticky situations. I find myself using a lot of physics, math, and bum luck, which is pretty important brain exercise for an old fart.

It is also cheaper than the buggies. I don't have to replace as many broken parts. Unfortunately, I am not immune from trying some stupid stuff, so the crawler does suffer a breakage once in a while.

[jaymann]

When I was going through chemo I forced myself to go out and run for a hour or so.i got tired pretty quick,but for that hour I could forget about everything else for a bit kept my from going crazy.

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

[borlo]

I find it tickles the same part of the brain as flyfishing.

[XtrmTJ]

It's similar to wrenching on my 1:1, is therapeutic, it's relaxing, it lets me forget the real world for a minute and just enjoy the simple things.

[Levi]

I work my ass off at two jobs, family and life overwhelms me. Any chance I can get out and run my trucks, truck builds, mountain or road biking are my best therapy I can ask for. One day when I get more time hoping to add fishing back on my list of therapy fixes.

[Yudi13]

Originally Posted by CODYBOY

For me, the therapy I get is from the building! At 72 I need the challenge of the R&D and figuring out how to make parts and fitting them. I think it helps keep my mind young. I love the fabricating, painting and designing!
I don't have my sea legs anymore so uneven ground and climbing are getting harder every year.
I'll leave all the climbing to you young bucks!!
Ernie

Totally agree with this. I really enjoy the process of building and re-building :-). Don't get me wrong I love playing with it too and I'm just 48 young, but due to the circumstances the local playground for me which is a very good rocky hill is also the spot where so many people gather especially during the weekend/holiday. With the risk of getting the covid19 (I'm comorbid and still waiting for my vaccine), the only time I could play now is on working day when the spot is quiet, but then I must take my leave from work (even though I'm working from home now). The blessing of working from home is that I can work on the RC even during the meetings :-) since most of the time the online meeting is done only by sharing the presentation screen and discussion, not necessary to turn on the video.

[MAGNUMB]

It's the absence of the wife/GF with the exploring that makes it a worthwhile endeavor. Should be a bumper sticker

[Semido]

It's great that you've found something you like doing in life, and it makes you happy. I had some problems with that because I didn't know what I like at all, and I had no clue about my job. But, gladly, I just decided to check all the job offers on this platform, and I managed to find the one that I like.